Quote: “Look forward to the harvest, and remember, where there is struggle, there is life!” – Zig Ziglar

One day I was struggling with some difficult life circumstances, so in my office at work I inquired of the Lord about the matter. “Lord, why is this happening to me? I know that You are building my character in this situation, but I don’t understand why it has to be like this.” Before I could descend too far into a pity party, I heard the Lord respond in His still small voice, “This is happening to you because through it, I am putting a message in you that when it comes out, it will be all Me!” Now that gave me something to seriously ponder...the Lord wanted to use me (Wow!), but He needed to work out some things in my character before He could do so (Ouch!). Furthermore, in the midst of my troubling circumstances, the Lord encouraged me regarding His perfect plan and purpose for my life, and even though I didn’t fully understand the struggle, with His abiding presence, I knew I could rest in the peace of Psalm 18:3 as the Psalmist David, declaring in my spirit, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised!”

The Lord is so awesome that He has since helped me to even better understand what He was talking about when He spoke to me on that day in my office. In a teaching, Jewish Rabbi, Curt Landry, shared that the making of a Jewish Shofar - a holy trumpet - actually represents how the Lord shapes and molds each of us into a holy vessel separated unto Him for His kingdom use and glory. In Rabbi Landry’s lesson, he taught that in order for a Shofar to exist, an animal has to first give its life so that the horn can be cut away for use as a Shofar. This symbolizes the death that each of us experiences when we first give our life to the Lord and are spiritually born new in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul clearly explains this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 stating, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Then, after the horn is cut away, the priest puts the horn in boiling water so that it will become soft and malleable – able to be shaped by his hands. This represents how the Lord, our Perfect High Priest, will allow the tests and trials of life to soften us, shape us, and develop a teachable spirit within us. Once the horn is taken out of the boiling water, the priest then twists and turns it in a special way so that it will be able to produce the right joyful sound unto the Lord. This represents how the Lord will allow difficult life challenges like the one I was experiencing to directly prepare us for His specific calling and perfect purpose for our lives that will bring Him glory.

Lastly, the priest puts the handcrafted vessel in a dry wilderness place to let it properly dry out before drilling the small pointed end of it to complete the mouthpiece necessary for making the joyful sound for which the Shofar was created. This represents the lonely time period when the Lord is perfecting our total dependence upon Him before He fully releases us into our anointed calling for which He created us. While such a time may feel like the Lord has abandoned us, I have found that it is in this time that we actually discover His faithfulness to His promise in Hebrews 13:5 that He will never leave us nor forsake us as well as learn the benefits found in James 1:4 of letting patience have its perfect work in us so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing in God. Therefore, with a spirit of faith and commitment, embrace life and all its struggles because God is in complete control, shaping and preparing us for His perfect plan and destiny in His kingdom.

The Make It Happen People Value: “Make It Happen” People Possess A Positive Attitude!

Have a blessed “Make It Happen” day!

Written by Gary J. Borgstede
President and Founder of The Make It Happen Learning Institute – Reaching People, Unleashing The Extraordinary! ® www.makeithappenbooks.com

Edited by The Make It Happen Moment ® Editorial Team

The Make It Happen Moment ® Embrace Life Copyright 2010, The Make It Happen Learning Institute. You have permission to reprint The Make It Happen Moment ® Embrace Life, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission. All other rights reserved.

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